Aftermath of Rejection

"Ya! Wake up!" the voice was accompanied by a pair of hands trying to shake her awake.

Jeongyeon groaned in irritation. She sat up without even bothering to open her eyes and pushed away the intruder who dared to disturb her slumber then laid back down on the bed. She had had a long, emotional night and wanted nothing but to rest. Apparently, her roommate had other plans.

"Yoo Jeongyeon!" Momo hissed. "Get up! You're on the news!"

"What does it matter? We're always on the news," Jeongyeon murmured into her pillow.

"It's Dispatch!" Here, Jeongyeon's eyes shot open. "They found out about your date with Kyunghoon."

Jeongyeon sat up, indignant. "I told you! It wasn't a date!" she exclaimed and stretched her arm out the bed, reaching for her phone on the nightstand beside her. Their were about a hundred notifications popping up on her phone and are increasing in number. It was mostly from people blowing up their SNS which she ignored in favor of an article about her that caught her attention.

"Yeah, well, tell that to them," Momo scoffed as Jeongyeon scrolled through a news site.

An article accompanied with a picture of her and Kyunghoon exiting the restaurant together had a headline screaming:

"Dispatch does it again! TWICE's Yoo Jeongyeon spotted with singer and Knowing Bros star, Min Kyunghoon, in Gangnam!"

Jeongyeon groaned. "Aish, it's too early in the morning for this crap!"

"It's actually past 10," Momo interjected, earning her a glare from Jeongyeon.

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes at Momo and continued to read through the article.

A reporter from Dispatch had been enjoying her dinner in one of the most famous restaurants in Gangnam last night when she spotted TWICE's Yoo Jeongyeon and Min Kyunghoon entering the restaurant together. With the absence of TWICE's other members and the Knowing Bros cast, it was evident that the meet up was anything but friendly.

It appeared there was a tension from the two celebrities ever since TWICE's first appearance on the show Knowing Bros which, based on their apparent date, had blossomed into a romance. Following the news of TWICE's Momo and Kyunghoon's co-star Heechul dating last January along with TWICE's Jihyo and soloist Kang Daniel revealing their relationship months prior, it seems another TWICE member is now taken.

Neither celebrity was available for comment on their rumored relationship yet. For more information on Yoo Jeongyeon and Min Kyunghoon, check out our other articles.

After reading, her phone vibrated and a notification informed her that she had received a text. It was from Kyunghoon.

"Mianhe, Jeongyeon-ah. I didn't realize someone had been following me last night. I'll hold an interview with one of my reporter friends to clear everything up. Jinjja mianhe for the misunderstanding," she read.

Momo was beside her so she had also seen the text. "So that's how they found out," she commented.

Jeongyeon cursed lowly and texted back, "No need, oppa. I'll have the company release a statement on this later. Mianhe for last night."

"That reminds me, what happened between you two? You came home pretty late last night," Momo said. Jeongyeon came stumbling into their room in the middle of the night, unknowingly waking Momo, and blacked out as soon as her her body hit the mattress.

Jeongyeon sighed, not wanting to talk about her failed dinner with Kyunghoon so early in the morning. "He wanted to court me and I rejected him. That's all you need to know." She got up from bed and made her way towards their bathroom.

"I thought you wanted to sleep more," Momo called after her as she was closing the bathroom door.

"The company will be calling soon, I need to get ready," her muffled shout came from behind the door.

As if on cue, Jeongyeon's phone, which she left on the bed, rang once. Momo checked the notification and it was from one of the managers.

"Pinky-oppa just texted, he's coming to pick you up. PD-nim wants to talk to you, ASAP," she said in a loud voice to make sure Jeongyeon heard her.

"Crap," Jeongyeon cursed behind the door.

...

Despite the current situation she was in, she was quite glad it was JYP who she was meeting with at the moment. It's not like she didn't like the other senior employees of the company. Aside from their managers, she was just more comfortable discussing personal matters with the man they all trusted and considered their father.

The two of them were currently in one of the training rooms in the company building. JYP mentioned there was no need for them to meet in a conference room since he intended to meet her for at least only thirty minutes.

"Jeongyeon-ah, I think you already know the reason why I called you here," JYP said, crossing his legs as he settled into his chair.

She nodded in assent. "Ne, PD-nim. Even if you hadn't called for me here, I was already planning to release a statement as soon as possible."

JYP shook his head. "Aniyo, that can be arranged anytime. What I wanted to know is your relationship status with Kyunghoon. And, if you are okay with it, also about what happened between you two last night."

Jeongyeon was quick to reassure him. "Ani, PD-nim. It's not what you think. Kyunghoon-oppa and I aren't dating. He just... he invited me to dinner last night to say he officially wants to court me."

"And what did you say?"

Jeongyeon hesitantly answered in a murmur. "I rejected him." She didn't want to bother narrating every single thing they talked about that night- if Kyunghoon's begging could even be considered as talking. Jeongyeon still felt guilty rejecting him but she wasn't about to agree to date him out of sympathy. That wouldn't be fair to her or Kyunghoon.

JYP paused for a few seconds, blinking. Confusion was written all over his face. He looked like he was going to say something before he shook his head. "Arasseo. I won't bother asking why." He smiled at her before continuing, "Now, let's work on that statement."

Jeongyeon felt grateful towards the man for not pressing the issue.

...

Jeongyeon's phone rang as soon as she stepped out of the building. The meeting didn't last long and had gone quite well. She and JYP had both agreed to release her statement later that evening. Hopefully, it would clear up any suspicions or theories the general public would definitely have before the situation got worse. Now, she needed to talk to her family. They would surely be surprised by the news and she needed to reassure them.

Speaking of family... Seungyeon was the one calling her phone just now.

"Yeoboseyo, unnie?"

"Where are you?" Damn, Seungyeon sounded so serious. "Meet me at the cafe near your company, we need to talk."

Jeongyeon sighed. "Arasseo. Be there in five." Seungyeon ended the call abruptly. She sounded neither elated nor angry. The neutrality she used to speak to Jeongyeon rattled the youngest Yoo for a bit.

The cafe she was talking about was a two minute walk east from the company. It was somewhat secluded and, luckily, didn't have that much customers so she could remove her mask the moment she entered the cafe. She found her sister on a corner table near the window and immediately made her way towards her.

"Annyeong, unnie," Jeongyeon said as she sat in front of Seungyeon.

"Explain yourself, Jeong," Seungyeon demanded with crossed arms.

Jeongyeon scoffed. "You won't even let me order before you start to interrogate me? I haven't eaten anything yet, you know. I'm starving."

Seungyeon rolled her eyes before raising her hand to call for the waitress waiting behind the counter. She ordered two coffees (Americano for Jeongyeon and latte for Seungyeon) and a plate of pastries for her and her sister before waving off the waitress. She turned back to Jeongyeon, frowning.

"Now that I've ordered, talk. And don't you dare leave out anything," Seungyeon said, leaning back on her chair.

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes. "He invited me to dinner last night- we both agreed it wasn't a date- where he said he wanted to officially court me and I rejected him. It's not that big a deal, okay."

"How is it not a big deal? Kyunghoon's liked you for years. Probably the whole nation knows about it, especially since he doesn't bother to hide that fact." Jeongyeon couldn't deny that but it still didn't explain why Seungyeon was mad.

"What are you so mad about? I already told you I rejected him."

The waitress came back with their orders and the two sisters took a break from bickering to thank the waitress who bowed at them before leaving. Seungyeon took a sip from her cup before addressing Jeongyeon, "I'm worried, Jeong."

Jeongyeon paused midway from biting into her muffin. She put it back on her plate, wiped her hands on the table napkin, and placed a hand over her sister's on the table. "I'll be fine, unnie. I've already talked to PD-nim about releasing a statement later tonight."

Seungyeon shook her head, squeezing her dongsaeng's hand. "Not about that, Jeong. I trust you can handle yourself. What I'm worried about is what would this rumor do to your life, especially your relationships."

"What are you talking about, unnie?" To be fair, Jeongyeon hadn't thought that far. It's not like she had other love interests- the male ones- to worry about seeing the news. And the only love interest she currently had had never shown any interest to her anyways. But why did it suddenly feel like Seungyeon is pertaining to her?

"I'm talking about Nayeon." Bingo, you got it right again, Jeongyeon. Give yourself a prize, she thought to herself.

Jeongyeon groaned and sat back on her seat. "This again, unnie?" Ever since that kiss when she got injured a few years ago, Seungyeon has been teasing her nonstop about Nayeon. Her unnie says that was when she began to develop feelings for Nayeon- she still wasn't convinced if that was the moment which started it all- and that Nayeon feels the same for her.

"There's no point in trying to convince you anymore, Jeong, you're just too stubborn," Jeongyeon scoffed at this but Seungyeon ignored her and continued, "I'm only pointing out what I've noticed based on how you act towards each other. But don't tell me you still haven't noticed anything about her behavior towards you."

She was onto something there, if Jeongyeon considered the times Nayeon admitted feeling jealousy towards her and Mina but she wasn't about to prove her unnie right so she kept mum by sipping on her coffee. Besides, she was sure Nayeon was only feeling that way because Jeongyeon had been ignoring her before and now that they'd settled things, her attention had shifted towards Mina. She was probably just worried Jeongyeon would ignore her again.

"Arasseo, enough about that. Tell me, what else is going on with you besides Kyunghoon?" Seungyeon asked.

Jeongyeon smiled, happy at the change of subject and proceeded to narrate about what had been going on with her group the past few days.

...

Jeongyeon trudged towards the front step of their dorm, feeling exhausted and full. She'd barely slept since last night and was even roused early this morning by Momo. She wanted nothing more than to collapse in bed and hibernate.

Seungyeon and Jeongyeon had decided to spend the day together, even picking up Seoyeon- their other sister- along the way to go to the mall. Of course, Jeongyeon and Seungyeon wore their masks so they won't be recognized as they shopped for their necessities and ate a lot wherever they went. The Yoo sisters caught up with each other the rest of the day before parting ways.

Before her hand landed on the doorknob, the door swung open revealing her members staring at her. It was as if they knew she had been coming and were waiting for her behind the door. Jihyo, who had been the one who opened the door, had a frown on her face. Jeongyeon flinched back at the slightly creepy sight, startled.

She placed a hand on her chest and scoffed. "Ya, what were you idiots doing? You scared the crap out of me."

As if they rehearsed it- which they probably did based on how in sync they were- the eight of them retorted in unison, "What were you doing?"

Jeongyeon paused at that. Okay, she may or may not have forgotten to text them that she was going home late while she was out enjoying with her sisters. She should feel a little guilty but at this moment, she's more focused on finding an appropriate piece of furniture to slump in. "I went to the company earlier today then spent the day with Seungyeon-unnie and Seoyeon-unnie."

She removed her sneakers before entering their home and went straight to the living room, mindless of the girls scrambling to follow her. She dropped her shoes and collapsed on the couch face first with a loud, satisfied moan.

"Jeong? Gwaenchanha?" Jihyo asked, definitely worried.

Jeongyeon couldn't be bothered to look up as she answered, her raspy voice muffled by the cushions. "I'm so tired." Sana came forward to remove Jeongyeon's socks and placed them in her shoes beside the couch. She then sat beside Jeongyeon's head.

"Poor Jeongie," Sana cooed, rubbing her back in circles.

"She didn't get much sleep last night and didn't even want to get up this morning," Momo stated, feeling a little guilty for being the one to wake Jeongyeon.

"Serves you right for accepting that date," Chaeyoung teased. Nayeon hit the back of her head for that remark. Chaeyoung just smiled sheepishly at her while rubbing her head.

"It wasn't a date and you know that better than anyone!" her muffled voice came again, this time louder as she had been shouting through the cushions.

"Have you eaten yet?" Dahyun asked.

Jeongyeon merely grunted in assent as she could feel herself drowsing off. Chaeyoung took note of this. "Go sleep in your room, hyung! We want to watch a drama."

She was too late, though. Jeongyeon had nodded off while she was speaking.